Live Tiny ~ Embrace Simplicity ~ Eat Well

Tag: tiny house on wheels

Today we are talking about kitchen tools that blend, puree, and juice – which covers a variety of tools. Pull all of these items out of your kitchen cabinets and take a look over them. Remove redundant gear and consider what’s best for you in your tiny house. I chose to keep a small blender – the one and only appliance that made it into my tiny house. Consider what you’ll actually use on a weekly basis, and what alternatives there are in your community.

Alternatives to keeping the gear:

In some cases, visiting a great local shop that offers fresh juices may be more of a treat than keeping an expensive juicer that is a space and energy hog. In my case, instead of juicing each morning, I enjoy a 2 ounce glass of NingXia Red, a superfruit smoothie product that has more great high-nutrient foods in it than I have time to eat in a day – or even a few days – and certainly more than I’m willing to buy at the market and haul home and feed to the machine. Juicing gets expensive in a hurry! Not to mention the clean up because the juicing process is messy. All of that was just too much to bring into a tiny house, so instead of focusing on what I was losing by living tiny, I find an alternative that works great for me. These days I have simplified my life by buying NingXia Red on the Young Living auto-ship program which makes it crazy-easy. Therefore I no longer need a juicer. The benefits I have experienced include better focus, more stamina, and less cravings for salt and sugar which accidentally led to weight loss (score!!). NingXia Red has made such a difference for me that Xaver and I literally tell perfect strangers about it! lol! Lots of information (including purchase info) is available at this link.

All that to say that you may find creative alternatives to keeping big expensive gear in your kitchen that make it more palatable to part with big energy and space hog appliances. In this manner we remove the sacrificial quality of downsizing, keep our favorite items, and retain only the gear that serves our purpose in this season of our lives.

Are you enjoying the process of transforming your kitchen into a place of order and simplicity? I hope so. This is day 19 out of 22 so you are on the home stretch! Pat yourself on the back – you deserve it!

I’m Carmen Shenk, the Tiny House Foodie, reminding you that we can #LiveTiny #EmbraceSimplicity and still #EatWell. Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it!

Good morning, it’s time to take a look at your flatware and choose your favorites, then add the rest to the donation box, and clean out the drawer or containers. Again, don’t allow marketing to lock you into ideas of formal and casual, or make you feel that you have to keep sets or pieces you don’t use just for the sake of some notion about “value”. If you have grandmother’s silver, take that out and access the situation. Choose the pieces you appreciate and enjoy, choose the pieces that feel somehow special and allow the rest to go to the donation box or give to family or friends. You’ll end up setting a table where each element has meaning and function, and that will be a delight for the senses.

I choose miss-matched silver pieces, some from my family, and some I happened upon at a lovely antique mall where Xaver and I had a great time exploring all the different patterns and choosing the individual items we liked the best. Using these beautiful knives, forks, and spoons is so special because they are each beautiful, and because of the memories we have of picking them out and enjoying them together in our tiny house. These beautiful details remind us that living in a tiny house is a purposeful choice, and not a sacrifice. We are very blessed.

How are you doing on these challenges so far? Leave me a comment and let me know your favorite parts of the series so far. And as always, thanks for watching, I really appreciate it!

This is how we cook on any given night, we simply make it up as we go along. You’ll see me try something, then change my mind and change direction. That’s part of the fun, you really can cook in the same way jazz musicians make music – an improvisation on a theme. In this case, the theme was farm fresh local eggs, and they were delicious! This meal works very nicely for dinner or a hearty breakfast.

I’m enjoying the idea of this Copper Chef Induction Cooktop because it means you can have a burner anywhere you have power. Even in the smallest of the small kitchens. Pair this with a toaster oven and you’ve got a world of possibilities at your fingertips. In addition, it can all be stowed away out of sight when you wish.

The table where I cooked this meal was 6 square feet, proving the point that you can comfortably cook a delicious meal in a very small space! In fact, the smaller a kitchen, the more efficiency is built in. No need to walk miles in an expansive kitchen when you can stay put and cook something lovely in a small space.

Is there something specific you’ve like to cook in your tiny kitchen but can’t figure out how? Do leave a comment with your comments and questions. LOTS more delicious food coming your way!

I am looking forward to sharing my stack of recipes with all of you. However, we are in the middle of a kitchen renovation. I’ve been collecting goodies left and right for this new kitchen and I can’t wait to share the space and my recipes with all of you. I must admit, I’m impatient to get started. So while I get busy shopping, painting, and bugging the installers, I’m also making lots of lists of great recipes to share with you. It’ll be great. I’m stoked. Meanwhile, contact me with your Tiny House Foodie questions. I may have paint all over me, but I’m here. Peace.

Welcome to the Tiny House Foodie! I’m Chef Carmen and I’m going to show you how to cook great meals like a chef, but all within the confines of a small kitchen. It can be done, I promise. I’ve lived in a tiny house for a number of years and I’ll show you how. Stay Tuned! ~Chef Carmen